When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to look after the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them but no longer slept with them. So they lived like widows in confinement until they died.
David built an altar for the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So the Lord heard the prayers for the country, and the plague on Israel stopped.
When David returned to bless his family, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How dignified Israel’s king was today! He was exposing himself before the eyes of the slave girls of his palace staff—like a mindless fool might expose himself!”
Solomon sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship offerings to the Lord. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Lord’s temple.
Now my head will be raised above my enemies who surround me. I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy in his tent. I will sing and make music to praise the Lord.
Why should the nations ⌞be allowed to⌟ say, “Where is their God?” Let us watch as the nations learn that there is punishment for shedding the blood of your servants.
Everyone who walks along the road shakes a fist at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Jerusalem’s people: ‘Is this the city they used to call absolutely beautiful, the joy of the whole world?’
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, will praise, honor, and give glory to the King of Heaven. Everything he does is true, his ways are right, and he can humiliate those who act arrogantly.
The officers should tell the troops, “If you have built a new house but not dedicated it, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will dedicate it.